


A Present For the Prince

by Arvanion



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Birthday Presents, Fluff, Gen, Sibling Love, Sibling Rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-30
Updated: 2016-06-30
Packaged: 2018-07-19 08:39:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7353808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arvanion/pseuds/Arvanion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Leo's birthday, and his siblings are all determined to get him the perfect present.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Present For the Prince

“So, why exactly are we waiting here?”

Beruka frowned. “Because Lady Camilla asked us to. Obviously.”

“I know _that_.” Selena shifted in her seat, fiddling with her mostly-empty mug and plate. She glanced across the street towards the storefront, where a small number of people were entering and exiting. “But, I mean, staking out a bookshop?”

“We’re after one specific book from their shipment, and we don’t know when it’s getting in. So staying out here is the best possible option, if we want to be sure to get it.”

“I know, I know.” Selena sighed. “But sitting around makes me really impatient…”

“Well, good news.” Beruka pushed her chair back. “Looks like the cart is here.”

Selena perked up. “Really? Perfect. Let’s get going.”

“Hold on. We should at least wait for them to unload.” Beruka gave a pointed glance to the few bites of pastry remaining on Selena’s plate. “Are you going to finish that?”

“Uh… maybe?”

“Waste not, want not.” Beruka snagged the remnant of the pastry and took a bite. “This is good.”

“You realize that I…”

“Hm?”

Selena shook her head. “Oh, never mind.”

As the delivery cart pulled away, both of Camilla’s retainers stood and, leaving a few coins on the table to pay for their snack, headed over to the bookstore.

The door swung open mere moments before they reached it, and another pair exited, nearly bumping into them. The man in front grinned.

“Ah, fancy seeing you here, friends of justice!”

“Arthur? What are you doing here?”

“I’m afraid I cannot divulge that secret,” said the blond man with a broad grin. “Lady Elise has sworn us to secrecy.”

“…right.”

“Anyway, we should get going,” Effie cut in. “She’s expecting us back soon. Nice seeing you, though.”

“You, too.”

A bell above the door rang as Selena and Beruka entered, and the bookshop’s owner, a bespectacled woman dressed in neat gray, nodded to them. “Good afternoon. Do you need help finding anything?”

Beruka produced a slip of paper from her sleeve. “We were hoping to find a book with this title.”

The owner peered through the lenses, then shook her head. “Ah, yes. That book was just shipped in—”

“Great, we’ll take it,” said Selena.

“Ahem. As I was saying, we just received a copy, but someone reserved it, and it’s been purchased already.”

Selena blinked. “ _What_?”

“Yes, a blond gentleman and a lady knight. They paid for it up front, and were waiting here to pick it up. Actually, they just left.”

“Well,” said Beruka, her voice deadpan. “I guess we’ll need to tell Lady Camilla we lost this one…”

\- - -

“I must say, Effie, I think that Lady Elise will be _most_ pleased with us.” Arthur grinned broadly as they made their way down the street.

“Yeah, I think so too.” Effie smiled back, the bag with the book in it held carefully against her chest. “I have to say, I was a bit surprised how easy of a job she asked of us. When she said it was really important—”

“As I recall, the phrasing she used was _super-important_ ,” said Arthur.

“Well, anyway, I’d thought it would involve a bit more action. But mostly, we just kind of sat around.”

“I was glad of the chance to relax. It gave me ample time to speak with the customers, learn of their thoughts, and help to assuage their doubts.”

“Maybe, but sitting around made me hungry.” Effie sniffed at the air as they approached an alleyway. “Oooooh, that smells nice.”

“What does?”

“I think there might be a food stand over there…” Effie looked over at Arthur. “Do me a favor and hold onto this. I’m going to grab a bite to eat.”

“Certainly, friend.” Arthur accepted the bag with all the delicacy of someone handling a child.

With that taken care of, Effie headed in the direction of the delicious smell. She rounded a corner to hear a familiar raspy voice.

“Oh, good, you came!”

“…Peri?”

“Yeah!” Xander’s retainer grinned broadly, holding out a pie with a fork in it. “I made this for you!”

“Why?”

“Well, Laslow said he thought you two might be coming this way, so we figured you would be hungry. And I guess we were right.”

Effie took the pie, regarding it with suspicion. “What game are you playing? Is there something weird in that pie?”

“Oh, no, it’s a perfectly normal pie. We just wanted to make sure that you left Arthur by himself for a few minutes.” Peri whistled, and her horse came up behind her. Hopping into the saddle, she called, “Thank him for me!” before riding off.

“Uh-oh.” Effie hurried in the opposite direction, trying to return to where she’d left Arthur as quickly as possible. She arrived to find her fellow retainer picking himself up from the ground with a groan. “Arthur?! What happened?”

“I was standing here like you asked me to, minding my own business, when suddenly a sausage landed at my feet. Before I knew it, I was bowled over from behind by a huge dog going after it. When I fell down, I dropped the bag, and by the time I got up, it was gone.” Arthur sighed. “I really do have the worst luck…”

“That might not have been an accident,” said Effie in a dark tone. “I think that Xander’s retainers set us up.”

“How villainous of them!” said Arthur indignantly. “To take the book that we rightfully bought…”

“Lady Elise will be disappointed.” Effie grabbed the fork out of the pie and took a bite before continuing on in the same huffy tone. “Mm. This is tasty.”

\- - -

“Hook, line, and sinker,” said Laslow, patting the book-bag in satisfaction. “That worked about just about as well as I could have expected.”

“I was a bit disappointed that my role was just making a pie, though,” said Peri, sounding rather put out.

“But you’re so good at it!”

“Maybe, but I got so worked up about it, I have all of this extra energy that I don’t know what to do with.”

“Tell you what. Since we did such a good job, I’ll spar with you after we deliver this book to Lord Xander.”

“Really?” Peri grabbed him in a crushing, one-armed hug. “You’re the best, Laslow.”

“Oof… just remember to take it a little bit easy on me, okay?”

“Okay…” Peri glanced at the bag in Laslow’s hands. “So why does Lord Xander want this book, anyway?”

“Well, tomorrow _is_ Lord Leo’s birthday,” said Laslow. “From what I hear, Lord Leo has been looking for this book for some time, and Lord Xander wants to be the one to give it to him. That’s why he told us to get our hands on a copy, if at all possible.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

Laslow scratched the back of his neck. “I admit, our methods might not be exactly what he had in mind…”

“I’m sure he’ll be so happy when we come back with the book, he won’t even ask.” Peri giggled. “After all, I don’t even have any blood on me this time!”

“Yes, that’s… wait.” Laslow’s eyes narrowed. “Do you hear something?”

“It sounds like—”

Whatever Peri was about to say was cut off by a muffled booming noise, as a cloud of black smoke descended into the street. Both of them broke into coughs, their eyes stinging.

A derisive laugh drifted down from a rooftop. “Haha! Are you truly so easily blinded, old friend?”

“Odin, if that’s you, I swear—” Laslow felt someone bump against him and grunted. “ _Peri—_!”

“Indeed, it is I: _Odin Dark_ , the progenitor of the darkness in which you find yourselves. Tremble, for I…” Odin’s voice trailed off as the cloud began to dissipate. “Oh. That didn’t last as long as I thought it would.”

Laslow glared up at his old comrade, crossing his arms. “What kind of a prank is this?”

“Ah, my bosom companion, this is no mere _prank_ , but rather, the culmination of a masterful strategy!” The dark mage swirled his cape dramatically. “Or have you not yet noticed… the tome which you sought is no longer in your hands!”

Laslow belatedly realized that the bag was no longer in his hands—and, for that matter, no longer anywhere in sight. “Oh, great…”

“Alas, it seems that you have failed! Odin Dark once again stands victorious!” With one last dramatic laugh, he disappeared beyond the edge of the rooftop.

Peri stomped her foot. “Ugh! Great. How are we going to explain this to Lord Xander?”

\- - -

“Um, big sister?”

Camilla smiled down at Elise. “Yes, darling?”

“I, uh, just heard back from Arthur and Effie… they were looking for that book for Leo’s birthday present…”

“Did they find it?”

“Yeah, they did, but… well, I feel kind of bad, because apparently they ran into Selena and Beruka there, and—”

“Elise, there’s no reason for that.” Camilla smiled. “After all, the gift was supposed to be from all of us. I would have let Selena and Beruka have the day off, but I hadn’t realized that you’d sent your retainers after it.”

“Nor had I.” Xander entered the room, a frown on his face. “It seems that I owe you an apology, Elise. From what I hear, my retainers took the book from yours, in a quite underhanded way. They seem to have gotten too competitive for their own good.”

“I forgive you.” Elise’s nose wrinkled. “You… you still have it, right?”

“Unfortunately, I do not. It seems that Laslow and Peri managed to misplace it… though neither of them would tell me exactly how. I think they may have been too embarrassed to explain.”

“I suppose that the three of us will simply have to think of something else to get Leo,” said Camilla, her tone somewhat resigned.

“Maybe we could cook him a birthday dinner!” said Elise. “I’m sure that Effie and Arthur would love to help!”

“And Peri’s skill in the kitchen could certainly be put to good use,” said Xander, smiling. “All right, it’s settled then. Although I am curious…”

Camilla raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“What exactly happened to that book?”

\- - -

There was a knock on the door of Leo’s room. Still yawning slightly from his night’s sleep, Leo spoke up. “Come in.”

“Your breakfast is here.” Niles held the tray carefully level as he came through the door, Odin behind him. “Your siblings’ retainers prepared it especially for your birthday.”

“That was very kind of them.” Leo looked at the tray, seeing a package carefully wrapped in paper and twine sitting off to one side. “What’s this?”

“A present from Odin and I.” Niles grinned. “If you don’t mind, we’d like to watch you open it.”

“I suppose I could do that.” Leo undid the twine and carefully unwrapped the paper. His eyes lit up as soon as he saw the cover. “This is—I’ve been looking for this for _ages_! How did you find it?”

“I’ll tell you this much, your highness,” said Odin, chuckling. “It certainly wasn’t easy.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday, Leo! Leave me a comment if you feel like it; I like those.
> 
> (also [on tumblr](https://occasionallydiverting.tumblr.com/post/146732375541/a-present-for-the-prince))


End file.
